Automatic vehicle door window closer



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 1, 1964 c. MAXEY ETAL AUTOMATIC VEHICLE DOOR WINDOW CLOSER Filed July 27, 1962 INVENTORS M4XEX fil /46058 M meeee,

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P 1, 1964 c. MAXEY ET'AL AUTOMATIC VEHICLE DOOR WINDOW CLOSER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 27, 1962 FIG. 4.

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United States Patent "ce 3,147,034 AUTOMATIC VEHICLE DOOR WINDOW CLOSER Carl L. Maxey, 411 W. 2nd St., and Charles H. Parker, 1557 NW. 16th Court, both of Ocala, Fla. Filed July 27, 1962., Ser. No. 212,807 4 Claims. (Cl. 296-44) This invention relates to a novel automatic closer for vehicle door windows which operates to close open windows in the doors as the doors are swung open.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of of an eflicient, practical, and reliable device of the kind indicated which eliminates not only the work of rolling up car door windows when leaving the car parked, but prevents weather and other damage to the interior of a parked car which can occur where the driver leaves the car without remembering to close the windows.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a simple device of the character indicated above, which is composed of a small number of uncomplex and easily installed components, and which can be readily installed, relative to door interiors and door posts or pillars, without extensive or objectionable mutilation of the door and posts, at relatively low cost.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a device of the character indicated above, which is operatively connected to the usual window operating mechanism, but does not interfere with the use of this mechanism for lowering the windows.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific form of the invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a passenger car whose left-hand front door is equipped with a window closer device of the present invention, the components of which are shown in phantom lines and the window of the door in closed position;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 22 of FIGURE 1, the door being. shown in closed position in full lines and in open position in phantom lines;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on the line 33 of FIGURE 2, showing the positions the components of the device occupy while the associated window is in elevated closed position;

FIGURE 4 is a partial view like FIGURE 3, showing the positions the components occupy when the window is in depressed open position;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse section taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 3, showing details of cushion assembly; and

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 3.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, an illustrative closer of the present invention is shown installed in a hollow door 10 of a passenger car C, the door being hinged, on a vertical axis, as indicated at 12, to a vertical post or pillar 14 or its equivalent. The post or pillar 14 has a transverse wall 16 to which, in the closed position of the door 10, a transverse door wall 18 is closely and parallel spaced, and in the open position of the door angled away from the pillar wall 16, as shown in full and in phantom lines in FIGURE 2. The door 10 has spaced outer and inner side panels 24) and 22, respectively. Window glass channels 24 and 26 are suitably arranged fixed within the door 18 to slide vertically therein in which the side edges of a glass window 28 are fixed. The channels are connected at their lower ends,

3,147,034 Patented Sept. 1, 1964 by a horizontal bar 30, from which depends a fixed longitudinal flange 32, provided with a closed longitudinal slot 34, in which is confined, for movement therealong, a grooved roller 36. The roller 36 is carried at the upper end of a lever 38 having a sector gear 48 at its lower end and extending laterally therefrom. The sector gear 40 is in mesh with a pinion 42 on a shaft 44 which is journalled through the inner door panel 22 and has an operating handle 46 at the inner side of the door 18. The lever 38 is pivoted, as indicated at 48, at a point adjacent to its lower end, on a bracket 50 fixed to the inner door panel 22, at a location above the pinion shaft 44. The foregoing is a substantially conventional structure, whose operation is generally understood.

In accordance with the present invention, the lever 38 is modified to render the same yieldably articulate, by constructing the lever 38 of overlapping upper and lower sections 52 and 54, respectively, and interposing cushioning spring means therebetween, the overlapped ends of the sections being pivoted together, as indicated at 39. As shown in FIGURE 5, the lower section 54 is located at the outer or outboard side of the upper section 52, and is provided, at its upper end, with an inboardly extending apertured lug 56, through which a horizontal bolt 58 slides, the lug 56 being spaced relative to and opposed to an outboardly extending apertured lug 60, on the lower end of the upper section, through which the bolt 58 also slides, heads 62 and 64 on the bolt being positioned at the remote sides of the lugs. A coil spring 66 is circurnposed on the bolt 58 and is compressed between the lugs, whereby, limited swinging of the lower sections relative to each other is provided for which eliminates the imposition of shocks on the mechanism as the window 28 is operated to and stops in its elevated and depressed positions.

The closer further comprises a stepped drive wheel 68, which is horizontally journalled, as indicated at 69, on the inner door panel 22, substantially on a level with the pinion 42, and at a location substantially midway between the pinion and the door wall 18. The drive Wheel 68 has a small diameter step 719 over which is trained and secured, one end of a pull cable '72, whose other end is trained over and secured to a pulley wheel 74, fixed on the pinion shaft 44, and of the same diameter as the small step 70.

The drive wheel 68 has a relatively large diameter step 76, over which is trained and secured one end of a drive cable 78, whose other end is passed through a grommetequipped hole in the door 14 and through a grommetequipped hole 82, in the pillar wall 16, which is aligned 'with the hole 80, and secured to a suitable anchor 84,

mounted on the wall 16 below the hole 82, and vertically adjustable in a slot 83, in thewall 16.

A vertical cable take-up or operating coil spring is anchored, at its lower end, as indicated at 86, to the inner door panel 22, at a point between the drive wheel 68 and the door wall 14, on a level spaced below the drive wheel, and has a pulley wheel 88, on its upper end, which rides upon the drive cable 78.

In operation, with the door 18 closed, and the window 28 in elevated closed position, produced by operation of the handle, the spring 85 is under only enough tension to hold the cables 72 and 78 in taut condition. When the window 28 is in its depressed open position, the spring 85 is in a maximum stretched and tensioned condition, as shown in FIGURE 4, and takes up any existing slack in the drive cable 78 and the pull cable 72. When the door 18 is swung to open position, shown in phantom lines in FIGURE 2, with the window in depressed open position, the drive ,cable 78 is, in effect, pulled toward the pillar 14, so that the drive wheel is rotated, in a counterclockwise direction, and the pull cable is pulled in the same direction. This results in the pinion 42 being rotated in a counterclockwise direction and the lever 39 swung upwardly, from the depressed position shown in FIGURE 4 to the elevated position shown in FIGURE 3, whereby the window is elevated to closed position, where it remains until moved downwardly to partially or fully open position, by rotating the handle 46.

Although there has been shown and described a preferred form of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily confined thereto, and that any change or changes in the structure of and in the relative arrangements of components thereof are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a vehicle body having a door opening and a vertical pillar, a door hinged on the pillar for closing said opening, a vertically movable window mounted on the door, manual operating means on the door for the window, said operating means comprising a lever and a pulley, means operatively connecting the lever and the pulley, and cable means connected to the pillar and trained over the pulley for actuating the lever to elevate the window from depressed open position to closed position as the door is swung open from closed position, said cable means comprising a drive wheel rotatably mounted on the door between the pulley and the pillar, said drive wheel having a large diameter step and a small diameter step, a drive cable trained over the large step and secured to the pillar, a pull cable trained over the small step and trained over and secured to said pulley, a take-up spring located between the drive wheel and the pillar, said spring being anchored at one end to the door below the drive cable and having a pulley wheel on its other end engaged over the drive cable.

2. In combination, a vehicle body having a door opening and a vertical pillar, a door hinged on the pillar for closing said opening, a vertically movable window mounted on the door, manual operating means on the door for the window, said operating means comprising a lever and a pulley, means operatively connecting the lever and the pulley, and cable means connected to the pillar and trained over the pulley for actuating the lever to elevate the window from depressed open position to closed position as the door is swung open from closed position, said cable means comprising a drive wheel rotatably mounted on the door between the pulley and the pillar, said drive wheel having a large diameter step and a small diameter step, a drive cable trained over the large step and secured to the pillar, a pull cable trained over the small step and trained over and secured to said pulley, a take-up spring located between the drive wheel and the pillar, said spring being anchored at one end to the door below the drive cable and having a pulley wheel on its other end engaged over the drive cable, said lever comprising overlapped upper and lower sections pivoted together, the upper end of the upper section being operatively connected to the window and the lower end of the lower section being operatively connected to the pulley, and cushioning spring means acting between the overlapped ends of the sections.

3. In combination, a vehicle body having a door opening and a vertical pillar, a door hinged on the pillar for closing said opening, a vertically movable window mounted on the door, manual operating means on the door for the window, said operating means comprising a lever and a pulley, means operatively connecting the lever and the pulley, and cable means connected to the pillar and trained over the pulley for actuating the lever to elevate the window from depressed open position to closed position as the door is swung open from closed position, said cable means comprising a drive wheel rotatably mounted on the door between the pulley and the pillar, said drive wheel having a large diameter step and a small diameter step, a drive cable trained over the large step and secured to the pillar, a pull cable trained over the small step and trained over and secured to said pulley, a take-up spring located between the drive wheel and the pillar, said spring being anchored at one end to the door below the drive cable and having a pulley wheel on its other end engaged over the drive cable, said lever comprising overlapped upper and lower sections pivoted together, the upper end of the upper section being operatively connected to the window and the lower end of the lower section being operatively connected to the pulley, and cushioning spring means acting between the overlapped ends of the sections, comprising spaced and opposed apertured lugs on the sections, a bolt sliding through the lugs, and a coil spring circumposed on the bolt and compressed between the lugs.

4. In combination, a vehicle body having a door opening and a vertical pillar, a door hinged on the pillar for closing said opening, a vertically movable window mounted on the door, manual operating means on the door for the window, said operating means comprising a lever and a pulley, means operatively connecting the lever and the pulley, and cable means connected to the pillar and trained over the pulley for actuating the lever to elevate the window from depressed open position to closed position as the door is swung open from closed position, said cable means comprising a drive wheel rotatably mounted on the door between the pulley and the pillar, said drive wheel having a large diameter step and a small diameter step, a drive cable trained over the large step and secured to the pillar, a pull cable trained over the small step and trained over and secured to said pulley, a take-up spring located between the drive wheel and the pillar, said spring being anchored at one end to the door below the drive cable and having a pulley wheel on its other end engaged over the drive cable, said pillar having a hole through which the drive cable extends, and a vertical slot at one side of the hole, and adjustable anchor means engaged through the slot to which the adjacent end of the drive cable is secured.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,104,639 Dall Jan. 4, 1938 2,135,196 Nicholson Nov. 1, 1938 2,146,638 Magid Feb. 7, 1939 3,052,496 Frey Sept. 4, 1962 

1. IN COMBINATION, A VEHICLE BODY HAVING A DOOR OPENING AND A VERTICAL PILLAR, A DOOR HINGED ON THE PILLAR FOR CLOSING SAID OPENING, A VERTICALLY MOVABLE WINDOW MOUNTED ON THE DOOR, MANUAL OPERATING MEANS ON THE DOOR FOR THE WINDOW, SAID OPERATING MEANS COMPRISING A LEVER AND A PULLEY, MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTING TO THE PILLAR AND TRAINED OVER THE PULLEY FOR ACTUATING THE LEVER TO ELEVATE THE WINDOW FROM DEPRESSED OPEN POSITION TO CLOSED POSITION AS THE DOOR IS SWUNG OPEN FROM CLOSED POSITION, SAID CABLE MEANS COMPRISING A DRIVE WHEEL ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON THE DOOR BETWEEN THE PULLEY AND THE PILLAR, SAID DRIVE WHEEL HAVING A LARGE DIAMETER STEP AND A SMALL DIAMETER STEP, A DRIVE CABLE TRAINED OVER THE LARGE STEP AND SECURED TO THE PILLAR, A PULL CABLE TRAINED OVER THE 